Thinking that if he didn’t pull them apart, the two would really start crying on the ground, Qi Xia could only step forward and pull the two men away.

Qin Dingdong pulled the two grief-stricken men to sit down by the chairs, letting them calm their emotions.

“Hanging is no problem,” Qi Xia said to Earth-Snake. “I’ll help you. I can tie it tighter so you can better experience ‘near-death.'”

“Sure, sure,” Earth-Snake nodded. “Only you can touch me anyway, so I’m counting on you. Remember not to tie a dead knot, or I’ll really die.”

“Don’t worry, if I’m helping you hang yourself, I definitely won’t let you die.”

“Right, right, right. No one actually dies from hanging.”

Seeing the two of them leave the room with a rope, the three people inside were stunned in place.

Qiao Jiajin and Chen Junnan had already recovered their emotions, but their faces showed even more confusion.

“Um…” Qiao Jiajin turned his head to look at Chen Junnan. “Should we go help at this time or should we stop them…? I’m a bit confused…”

After hearing this, Chen Junnan smiled and shook his head. “I really envy this kind of mutually reciprocated illness.”

After hearing this, Qin Dingdong kicked toward Chen Junnan again, but Chen Junnan nimbly dodged it.

The three people waited boredly in the room for Qi Xia and Earth-Snake to return from hanging.

Chen Junnan couldn’t sit still at all. After waiting less than a minute, he stood up and wandered around the room.

He walked to the corner of the room and looked at the books piled there, discovering that the books here were quite interesting.

The four corners were different genres. The northwest corner was full of tragic masterpieces—”Butterfly Lovers,” “To Live,” “Camel Xiangzi,” and other familiar works were all there. The northeast corner was all comedy works and even four-panel comics. The remaining southeast and southwest corners—one had a large pile of popular science readings, while the other was full of psychology books.

“I’m a bit curious about this old guy’s game,” Chen Junnan said. “What the hell is all this?”

Following Chen Junnan’s gaze for a long time, Qin Dingdong said, “I think ‘books’ are the rarest treasure in this damn place.”

“How so?”

“This damn place has no entertainment projects whatsoever. At times like this, ‘books’ can keep humans from going crazy,” Qin Dingdong answered. “Wei Yang told me that as long as we can keep reading, that knowledge will become our flesh and blood, become part of our bodies. Even if one day we lose our memories, our subconscious will still remember that content.”

Chen Junnan and Qiao Jiajin looked at each other. They had also heard Wei Yang’s theory before, and Qi Xia seemed to be implementing this exact theory.

“But for someone like me…” Chen Junnan said. “Even if I read books, I’m just reading for the excitement. If I could read like Old Qi, I would’ve gotten my damn master’s degree ages ago.”

“Hey,” Chen Junnan’s words went straight to Qiao Jiajin’s heart. “When I was studying as a kid, what I liked looking at most were the pictures in the books!”

“Who the hell doesn’t?” Chen Junnan also laughed. “I even drew little figures on Du Fu’s face.”

“Very disrespectful, very disrespectful,” Qiao Jiajin laughed. “Next time draw on a foreign devil.”

“There won’t be a next time,” Chen Junnan said. “Who goes back to school after graduating?”

Seeing the two of them chatting and laughing, Qin Dingdong sighed helplessly. “If only you two could have half of Classmate Qi’s effort.”

Chen Junnan shook his head. “It’s precisely because I know that no matter how long I spend, I could never catch up to Old Qi, that I don’t plan to try surpassing him at all. I just need to follow him. I can naturally shine in other directions.”

Just at this moment, the two who had gone to hang themselves walked back. It seemed Qi Xia’s rope was indeed tied very tightly—Earth-Snake was dry heaving as he walked into the room.

Qi Xia kept patting Earth-Snake’s back. “Didn’t they say a snake’s neck isn’t a weak point? How can you not handle this?”

“You brat…” Earth-Snake said while dry heaving. “You almost strangled an ‘Earth-level’ just now… Are you goddamn crazy?! What the hell kind of knot was that?”

“If you hadn’t called out my name at the beginning, I would have definitely strangled you to death here. After all, strangling an ‘Earth-level’ to death would be no small achievement,” Qi Xia said. “Since the knot I tied would be impossible for you to untie with your hands, you should be grateful for my great mercy.”

“Fine… you brat…” Earth-Snake coughed a few more times. “After knowing my ability, no one has dared to touch me for many years…”

After hearing Earth-Snake’s verbal tic, Chen Junnan felt uncomfortable all over. “You don’t sound that old, yet you still call Old Qi ‘brat’? What’s wrong with you?”

“Then do you look very old?” Earth-Snake retorted. “Don’t you call yourself ‘young master’? What’s the difference?”

“Why the hell do you care?” Chen Junnan said. “I was born toward the yang. Who’s the same as a dark snake like you?”

“Then why do you care about me?!” Earth-Snake said. “I was born toward the darkness. I love calling people brats. I like it. What can you do about it?”

“You damn…” Chen Junnan said with a frown. “Fine, call people whatever you want. But wasn’t this hanging something you wanted to do yourself? Now you’re complaining that Old Qi tied the rope too tight.”

Earth-Snake nodded with a calm expression. “I wanted to go hang myself just now. Now I want to blame him. I do whatever I want to do. Who the hell are you to control me?”

“I really want to skin you alive.”

The two instantly started quarreling incessantly, while Qi Xia pulled Earth-Snake aside to sit down.

“In any case, you don’t need to worry about my business,” Earth-Snake said while calming his breathing. “My life motto is ‘not seeking perfection in all things, but seeking to do as I please.'”

“Ha!” Chen Junnan let out a cold laugh. “My life motto is when the car reaches…”

“Who the hell asked you!” Qin Dingdong kicked Chen Junnan again, interrupting him. “Are you two introducing yourselves here?”

“I’m just pissed off,” Chen Junnan said. “Old Qi! Is this guy really the person you’re looking for?”

Qi Xia didn’t answer. He just lowered his head to look at Earth-Snake, who was still shaken, and then asked, “Are you the person I’m looking for?”

Earth-Snake’s golden eyeballs rolled around as he said, “That depends on my mood… I said before, I do whatever I want… If I’m in a bad mood, I might not even remember who you are…”

“I’ve heard enough of that line,” Qi Xia said. “Now you don’t need to think. I’ll do the thinking. You also don’t need to consider whether you want to or not—you just need to tell me whether you’ll do it or not.”

“You…?” Earth-Snake was stunned. “What do you want me to do?”

“Do what I had you do before,” Qi Xia said. “I can tolerate you always doing as you please, but if you still dare to do as you please now, I’ll make you get off the boat.”